Redruth to Looe, on the branchline

October 2024

Since retiring I don't have the early starts to the day, so anxious about missing the train, I arrive 20 minutes early ... There is silence in the waiting room, some people asleep, others absently gazing. Outside a group of young people are gathering, exited and shouting loudly to be heard above each other. Think they are scouts off to a jamboree as they wear neck scarves. Where do they find such exuberance so early? There is an autumnal chill but the promise of sun with pink pushing through the puffy clouds. My first stop is Liskeard and there is time for a flat white and pastry from the station café. Feel stronger now.

Now to wait for the Looe branchline at Platform 3. Apparently the line was on the list of closures with the Beeching cuts in the 1960s but Barbara Castle, the then Minister of Transport, stepped in and declared it should be spared the chop as the roads would get too clogged in the tourist season. Of late the waiting room and ticket office have been restored with wood panelling, benches and information boards. Really smart. Loads to read.

The two carriage train arrives. We set off going forwards as might be predicted but then stop after about five minutes at a tiny pedestrian level crossing (large fine if you don't shut the gate). The driver then walks through the carriage. Is there a problem, will I be late? Next thing I know we are moving off again but backwards. I really will be late if we are heading back to the station. As locals will know, this is normal as part of the line is on a curve; the points have to be manually changed by the driver, so then we head off down another track with the river skipping along beside.

My objective was the newly started Looe Festival of Words. A joyful, week long celebration of words, writing and books. Eyes peeled for signs of the festival en route, I recognise two puppeteers from Mazed Tales at Sandplace boarding the train; you have to flag it down like a bus. They had been booked to be out and about in Looe with William Bottrell and Robert Hunt, two famous Victorian collectors of traditional folktales. There was a small gathering waiting excitedly for them just outside the station. On a later train Sally Crabtree was working her poetry magic.

Arriving by train creates such a feeling of expectation of a great day out with no worries about parking or navigating one way streets etc. That day the wind was keen, the tide rising, activity in the amusement arcade was slow as I headed over the bridge to the Millpool Centre.

The Women Speak Volumes group from Plymouth and Lostwithiel had been invited to have a bookstall as part of the book fair of local authors and publishers and also to do some readings. We arrived to a room full of writers and books buzzing with activity and curiosity. As well as books from the group: Emma Timpany's Botanical Short Stories, Clare Owen's Zed and the Cormorants and Helen Scadding's Sand on the Stairs, we also had the Women Speak Volumes anthology (with thanks to Speaking Volumes and Literature Works who made it all happen) which we were able to give away. There are now no more actual books but the stories are available at https://speaking-volumes.org.uk/women-speak-volumes. There are some beauties and so diverse.

As well as the books, we encouraged visitors to think of a character in a book they like and to consider if that person was a plant, what plant would it be. These were written up on labels and hung on a splendid 'tree'. This provoked some really interesting responses and conversations. We had two Venus Flytraps, representing Hedda Gabler and Hamlet ... interesting as very different characters ...

We then read at lunchtime to a small but perfectly formed audience. Very enjoyable and Clare's compering encouraged a lot of discussion.

In fact it was a great event and day out which I hope will become an annual event. Thank you to Jackie Taylor and team for inviting us.

Am very much enjoying being part of this group of talented, committed writers. Hopefully we'll get to do lots more together.

Journey home was pleasurably uneventful. I do love that branchline. It does reflect a microcosm of Cornwall's history from heavy industry when it was built to carry ore and sand from sea to land or back. As that declined it shifted to accommodate the rise in tourism. One more fact I picked up was that an alternative line to Looe, direct from Plymouth, was proposed back in the 1930s which would have been quicker and more direct for people coming from upcountry. Permission had been granted, investment found, work started, then WW2 intervened and the project was abandoned. Personally, I'm glad we have the line we have ...

Photo credit for group shots: Looe Festival of Words / Photonaut.